


Coworkers

by poetic_devices



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, One Shot, intelligence agency au, spy AU, these two assholes I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 02:59:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10234334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetic_devices/pseuds/poetic_devices
Summary: Hiccup is a techie, and Astrid is a field agent for the Berk Alliances Bureau of Intelligence (BABI). On a chilly October night, Hiccup is sent into the field with agent Hofferson, ready to do some recon on Bludvist & Co., an international tech agency with a mean streak. Hiccup hacks, Astrid acts. You’d think they’d get along…





	

There was new information on a tech plot from Bludvist & Co., a German monopoly that controlled some of the most successful technology businesses in the world.

And two of Berk's finest were in charge of snagging the papers before any of Bludvist’s people could return to the musty old motel. A motel that happened to be abandoned and rigged up the wazoo with booby traps and monitors.

Astrid wore a black wig with a choppy haircut, and the square spectacles framed her eyes like a school teacher from the ’60s. The fake teeth protruded a bit, making the overall appearance somewhat... hilarious. 

Agent Henry “Hiccup” Haddock knew better than to laugh, even though he really, really wanted to. He and Hofferson were not what you would call “friends.” More like colleagues. Acquaintances. On their worst days, sometimes not even that.

In fact, they probably bickered more than they actually focused on their missions. They were professionals anyway, so things rarely went wrong for them even in the midst of a vehement argument about whether or not double stuff oreos were better than the originals. Petty bickering was simply something they had to keep separate from missions.

Except today.

“I swear to the gods,” agent Astrid Hofferson hissed through her false set of teeth. “So help me Haddock, you put me in a disguise like this _one more time_ and I will personally go to headquarters all the way over in New York and have them fire you. And ban you from being within fifty goddamn miles of any other meeting locations. Ever. You got me?”

Henry Haddock snorted, but he also kept his distance from the woman in the long black coat and glasses. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I got it.” One of his black-gloved hands rested on a laptop case hanging at his side. The other one was currently mussing up his reddish hair. Astrid only just noticed that he wasn’t wearing the usual black cap; It was mandatory to cover up as much of yourself as possible in order to remain unidentifiable, but so much for _that_ tonight, it seemed. 

Normally, the freckled, dog-loving agent wore a black beanie to cover most of his hair, although he never could manage to get the mane under control. The signature beanie was missing today, which allowed Astrid to see the entirety of his bronzish-auburnish-whatever-ish hair. Maybe a little too long as far as today’s standards went but… it worked for him. 

Astrid told herself to shut the hell up and focus on the task at hand.

“Breaking protocol again?” She clicked her tongue, chastising. “Boss won’t be happy about that.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I wasn’t feeling the beanie today.” Haddock gave a casual shrug of his shoulders from his spot by the crates stacked behind the motel, running a hand self-consciously through his hair again. Astrid shook her head, rolling her eyes at the imbecilic excuse.

“Nice. So you’re prepared to get caught then? I’m a _completely_ different person in this outfit, and there you are in all your tech nerd glory, ready to be taken in chains with your face out for the world to see. That’ll really help the agency.”

“Your sincerity is touching.” With a huff, Haddock motioned to the side entrance with a gloved hand. “Just get in there already, would you?”

“ _Oh_ my god _,_ the day you stop telling me what to do—”

“—Will be the day you actually do stuff without overthinking it?” Henry- _Hiccup -_  had one eyebrow raised in a cocky display, as if to add a “Yeah, I said it.” All _that_ did was make Astrid ten times angrier. 

Thank the gods it was too dark out for him to see her face redden. But she was a trained intelligence agent, goddammit, she could deal with a little snark from a guy who wore a beanie. And rode a motorcycle. Not even a great one, either.

Hiccup was busying himself on his now-opened laptop, tapping at the keys with impossible rapidity while muttering obliviously to himself, “These firewalls are such a joke… Seriously? Fucking html defaults…”

Astrid raised her eyebrows but made no comment. With a final shrug, she steeled herself and stepped away, rounding the corner of the building as she wrapped the trench coat more tightly around her. The hairs from her wig fluttering in the brisk night air.

Tapping at the tiny chip in her ear, she muttered a quick, “A to H, do you copy?”

Hiccup grinned and spoke into his own headset while continuing to tap furiously at the keys. “Copy that, A. Over.” 

With a steadying breath, Astrid put one hand on the door and pushed–

The alarms sounded immediately.

**000**

“Go go _GO!_ ” Her voice was hushed to a whisper, but agent Hofferson would have been shouting bloody murder if she could. 

Agent Haddock had his laptop and the bundle of wires in his bag before Hofferson could loose a single swear at him. He was by his motorcycle before she was halfway across the lot behind the motel. Fuck it, _why_ had she picked kitten heels? She was so much better at running in six-inch stilettos, honestly.

“Get on!”

He swung a leg over the leather seat, scooting forward to leave some space in the back for the second agent. 

Astrid followed close behind, steady as ever, even in two-inch heels, pulling the collar of her coat tighter around her face in an attempt to better cover herself from any cameras. “ _Get down_ “ she hissed at the agent in front of her. “Don’t face so much to the building, they’ll be able to see you!”

“I’m revving the bike up now!" Hiccup snapped back, shrugging the laptop case over his shoulders more securely. "I can’t help it if they see the side of my face!”

“And whose fault is that?!”

 _VrruuUU **UMMMM!**!_  

The sleek, panther-like motorcycle purred to life, surprisingly quiet to their ears. He must have made some hardcore modifications to this baby if it was  _that_ quiet.

“Ready?” Haddock’s voice piped up from in front of her again.

“ _Obviously_ , just get the hell out of here!”

“Don’t forget to hang on.”

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice. With a growl lethal enough to match that of an actual panther, Astrid looped her arms around the man’s waist, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from swearing.

“Next time, I’m asking the agency for my own motorcycle,” Astrid muttered bitterly from the backseat. The two of them zoomed out of the parking lot and merged back onto the highway seamlessly. Neither one looked back. Astrid felt sick. The mission had failed.

**000**

The door slammed viciously behind her as Astrid stepped through the door, following Hiccup closely. He'd parked the motorcycle two blocks away from the shady, out-of-the-way apartment building, where a homeless-looking man (another field agent on duty) quietly took it back to a garage for safekeeping. A room number was given to them. One, not two.

Astrid detested the very thought of sharing a room with this beanie-wearing douchebag. But, beggars couldn't be choosers. She'd experienced worse things out in the field.

“I still don’t understand why the alarms went off, just like that!” She tore off the wig to let her ponytail fall free. Tossing the choppy black thing to the carpet, she pulled the elastic from her hair in one smooth motion and sling-shot it across the room. Kicking off the kitten heels, she began to pace. Hiccup watched as she paused, then bent down to pull off her socks, before she tossed them to the side with the wig and resumed her pacing.

The carpet muffled the sound of her feet, and with the absence of a pair of cheap heels blistering her toes she welcomed the feeling of carpet beneath bare skin. “I went around the side entrance, the cameras were blacked out," she started to reason, "and the security system was deactivated, I’m sure of it!”

“Yeah…” Hiccup didn’t make eye contact and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. 

They’d only been here for about twenty minutes, and in that amount of time he had only just finished his usual routine of checking for bugs or any form of hostile spyware planted anywhere in the room or outside of the door. With an all-clear from the techie, Astrid felt free enough to go on a rampage regarding the night’s events.

Astrid spun around, her expression accusatory. “What, do you have something else you want to say?”

With fear in his eyes and a slouch in his shoulders, agent Hiccup Haddock looked like he was about to shoot himself in the foot. In Astrid’s opinion, what came out of his mouth was even worse. 

“Heh, so… here’s the thing…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, "I erm, I _miiight_ have… um… maybe uh, _not_ deactivated all the alarms?” He cringed, holding his hands palms-up, a gesture of surrender.

More like a sign to tell her “ _please don’t hurt me, I’m just a natural-born idiot with a compulsion of getting even, I am so fucking sorry_.”

Astrid didn’t react.

At first.

Maybe it was _because_ she was so much in shock from this confession, this _inconceivable_ confession. An agent who broke the rules? Hiccup didn't just deserve to get fired for this, oh no, what he was asking for was prison time. Disobeying direct orders from the Agency was a crime punishable by law.

“…Why would you do that?” Her voice was a whisper, deadly and terrifying. Hiccup winced involuntarily.

He let his hands fall, and his expression was pleading. “I… I wasn’t thinking, I swear, I just—”

—“Well _obviously_ you weren’t thinking—!”

“—I just really don’t like how we’ve been working together, and I know we don’t get along very well and I was pissed and—”

“Why do you _THINK_?!" Astrid yelled, both hands in the air. She pointed a solid finger at Hiccup, the thick-skulled techie. "You always act like an idiot!”

“And you always tell me I’m doing something wrong!" Hiccup rebutted. One hand pulled at his hair, the other was stuffed into the pocket of his dark jeans. "I felt bad the second I made the decision, I did! It was only a joke in my head, even _I_ didn’t think I would actually do it!”

Astrid let out a hiss of air through her teeth. The false set had been discarded some time ago, and she had shed her long, black coat just minutes before, feeling warm enough in the room to just wear her black tank top and jeans. Hiccup's muddy boots were left by the doorway. The two agents were in the nearest safehouse location, a one-bedroom one-bathroom apartment just two miles’ distance from headquarters. It was the only place they could think to get out of range of detection from Drago’s men. 

At this rate, though, Hiccup would have probably preferred to be caught by Drago Bludvist’s employees, rather than face the infamous wrath of agent Astrid Hofferson. He’d heard rumors. And he certainly didn’t want to be on the receiving end of her highly-acclaimed roundhouse kick. Even if she _was_ all perfect at her job, and smart and… gorgeous?

_Shut up, Hiccup, you’re both tired and she’s about to punch you in your stupid face. Forget it._

Astrid was positively livid, stuttering through her words. “Do you… Do you even realize what you did?" she asked him, and his ashamed expression was enough to confirm that yes, he absolutely knew what he'd done (fucked up) and what he'd risked (both of their jobs). "You’ve gone and jeopardized the agency’s entire plan. We’re screwed! _I’m_ screwed.” Her hands tore at her hair, frantic. “We’ll be fired for sure, and _you,"_ she pointed again. "Do you  _want_ to be locked up? Is that what you want?"

"No-"

"Just wait until they get the notice that we messed up this badly— that _you_ messed up this badly… to teach me some stupid lesson?!”

"Are you... are you going to  _tell_ them?" Hiccup asked sheepishly.

Without thinking, Astrid hurled a punch at the other agent’s head. 

He ducked just in time, but only just, throwing up a hand to grab her wrist before she could pull away again to aim another punch. He spun her around like a dancer leading the tango, and in the end, he pinned her arms tightly behind her back. Not too tight, but just tight enough that she wouldn't want to move. After all, his training had to count for something, right?

"Let _go_ of me, you asshole!” She tried stomping on his feet, but he moved them out of the way, never loosening his grip. She growled back at him. " _Bastard_."

Astrid reluctantly thought to herself that he was stronger than she’d anticipated. Shit. Stupid, scrawny Haddock just had to be secretly hitting the gym. That, or lugging around more tech equipment than necessary.

He let go. She whirled around, but Hiccup held up his hands again in the placating gesture of someone trying to soothe a wildcat. Very nervously and very, very slowly.

“We’ll be fine, I promise,” he assured softly. “I’ll just tell the boss it was an accident. I’ll tell them the security system was too high tech, and my coding wasn’t enough to tap into it.”

"You mean lie." She took a step closer. "Lie to the Agency."

"They'll never know it was a lie."

This seemed to calm Astrid down a little. The red in her cheeks mellowed out a bit, and her breathing slowed by just the tiniest fraction. It was only then that the two noticed how close together they were standing. Their chests were practically touching, both of their breathing still labored, either from trying to knock the other out, or from trying to _avoid_ being knocked out. Hiccup’s head tilted down, uncanny green eyes staring back into stubborn blue ones. 

She wasn’t shorter than him by much, but Astrid still had to look up a little to meet his stare.

Should he step back? Or should he stay right there, his hands hanging at his sides, watching her eyes flicker to his mouth and back up again…

Before he was even able to form logical thought, she pulled him even closer to her, wrapping her arms under his shoulders and grasping at his auburn hair. She was kissing him. Well, he wasn’t quite sure what to do about _that._

So he went with it. 

"You're fucking infuriating," Astrid hissed as she pulled away for a breath, before pulling him back in. Hiccup did nothing to protest.

 _Hey, you have to admit, this is wayyy better than being punched at._ He didn’t spare a moment wrapping his own hands around the blonde agent’s waist, and tried not to flinch at the expectation of being hit at again.

Meanwhile, Astrid was wondering _what_ in heaven’s name was she thinking??? 

Apparently, her hands had a mind of their own, running fingers through the reddish-bronze locks of hair and… what was that?

The hell… were those braids? The little twerp really had tiny braids in his hair— Two of them, to be exact. She remembered that he wasn’t wearing his hat today, because she wasn’t having any trouble tugging at the auburn strands while he held her tight. What a complete ass.

"I'm assuming we don't tell the agency about _this_ , either," Hiccup breathed the next time they broke apart.

"The Agency can go to hell," Astrid confirmed. 

Then she kissed him harder.

**Author's Note:**

> Just posting another old original from the depths of tumblr :)


End file.
